Constitution

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Kosova English Teachers Network

ARTICLE I: Name, Purpose, Mission and Objectives

Name:

The name of this Association shall be the Kosova English Language Teachers Network, also known as KETNET, whose address will be the American Corner at the National and University Library in Prishtina.

Purpose:

KETNET is a professional, non-profit, and non-political organization whose purposes are to promote scholarship, disseminate information, strengthen at all levels instruction and research in the teaching of English, and cooperate in appropriate ways with other groups having similar interests.

Mission:

As a professional association of English language teachers throughout Kosova, KETNET aims to participate in setting, promoting, and maintaining high standards in English language teaching and learning, and to support professional development and networking for English language teachers. Initially organized on a national scale, KETNET aspires to include within its framework branches in each of the seven Regional Centers of Kosova: Prishtina, Ferizaj, Gjakova, Gjilan, Mitrovica, Peja, and Prizren.

Objectives:

  • To reduce the isolation that teachers experience both in their classrooms and in their institutional settings;
  • To offer a forum for the introduction, production and exchange of instructional materials and other resources;
  • To take a lead in providing in-service training opportunities;
  • To disseminate information about language teaching and opportunities and facilitiesat home and abroad for professional development;
  • To improve the practice of language teaching and learning;
  • To promote high standards of pre-service and in-service language teacher training;
  • To foster and promote scholarship relating to language teaching;
  • To foster high academic and professional standards in language learning and teaching;
  • To encourage cooperation and mutual support, collaborative learning and learning in communities; and
  • To provide networking and other opportunities for English language development

In a phased approach KETNET will also:

  • Provide a focus and a forum for persons and organizations interested in the teaching of languages;
  • Represent language teachers in their relations with government and official bodies about matters relating to the teaching of English;
  • Have a consultative and advisory role with regard to educational developments and innovations;
  • Provide any necessary support for activities initiated at the local level;
  • Initiate projects and establish scholarships, perhaps with outside funding; and
  • Establish contact, perhaps through formal affiliation, with other national and international organizations of language teachers.

ARTICLEII:Membership

The following categoriesofmembershipshall exist:

A.Individual membership, which shall be available to any person over the age of seventeen who is interested in the teaching or study of languages, including students and retired teachers.

B.Corporate membership, which shall be available to educational institutions, libraries, businesses, embassies, government agencies and other organizations.

Memberships in the Association will extend from June 1 to May 31. Membership shall entitle members to all the benefits offered by the Association, including the timely receipt of meeting announcements and other information issued by the Association.

Honorary membershipmay, upon the recommendation of the Executive Committee and the subsequent approval of the General Assembly, be awarded to any individual who fulfills Criteria AandB belowor,inexceptionalcircumstances,CriterionBalone.

Criterion A:

Continuous membership in the Association for at least ten years, including service as a member of the Executive Committee of the Association.

Criterion B:

Outstanding contributions to English language teaching in Kosova.

The following procedure must be complied with to bestow an honorary membership:

A nomination for honorary membership shall be made in writing by a member of the Association, seconded by at least two other members, and presented to the President of the Association no later than May 1 of any year. Approval of the nomination must first be obtained from the Executive Committee and later from the General Assembly of the Association in the year in which it is initiated.

Honorary membership shall continue for the recipient’s lifetime and shall entitle her or him to participation in all Association activities, to vote, and to receive all membership benefits without payment of annual dues.

ARTICLE III: Officers and Executive Committee

The general business of the Association shall be conducted by an Executive Committee, which shall consist of the President, President-elect, Past-president, Secretary, and Treasurer of the Association, as well as a representative of each branch of the Association that is organized in the manner prescribed in this Constitution.

The general business of each branch of the Association shall also be conducted by an Executive Committee, which shall consist of the branch’s President, Secretary, Treasurer, and any other officers that the branch shall deem appropriate.

The President shall preside at all General Assembly and Executive Committee meetingsand have general responsibility for conducting the business of the Association, including making all arrangements associated with the programs undertaken by the Association. The President shall also serve as a liaison officer to national associations of language teachers in other countries. The President shall be limited to serving a single term as President which shall last for one year.

The President-elect shall use her or his term of office to become familiar with the responsibilities of the President, shall assist the President, as requested, with the execution of her or his responsibilities, and shall assume the responsibilities of the President whenever the President is unableto perform them because of illness, accident, absence from Kosova, or other reasons. If for any reason the President is unable to complete his or her term of office, the President-elect shall replace the President and complete the remainder of that officer’s term. The President-elect shall serve in that position for a single term lasting for one year.

The Past-president shall serve as an advisor to the President and the President-elect and shall occasionally assist the President, as requested, with the execution of her or his responsibilities. The Past-president shall serve in that position for a single term lasting for one year.

The Treasurer shall be responsible for administering and recording the financial business of the Association. At the General Assembly’s first meeting of the year the Treasurer shall submit an audited financial statement. In addition, either the General Assembly or the Executive Committee can instruct the Treasurer at any time to submit a written report detailing the Association’s financial records which the Treasurer shall be required to provide. The Treasurer shall be limited to a single term of three years.

The Secretary shall keep the minutes of all Executive Committee and General Assembly meetings and distribute them by email to all members of the Association as soon as reasonably possible after the conclusion of a meeting. The Secretary shall also maintain a record of the minutes of all past Executive Committee and General Assembly meetings and will be responsible for notifying all members by email of each meeting of the Executive Committee and General Assembly not less than seven days prior to the date of themeeting. The Secretary shall also be responsible for maintaining, with the cooperation of the President, a file containing all of the Association’s official correspondence, and a regularly updated data base containing the names, email addresses, and telephone numbers of the members of the Association. The Secretary shall be elected for a term of two years, but shall be eligible for re-election.

The offices of the President, President-elect, Treasurer, and Secretary shall be filled by an election that shall take place at a meeting of the General Assembly in the month of May.

Should either the Treasurer or the Secretary vacate their position before the completion of their term of office, the Executive Committee shall appoint a non-officer of the Association to replace that individual until a special meeting of the General Assembly can be held, no later than thirty days after the office has been vacated, to elect an Association member to complete the remainder of that officer’s term. Should the President-elect vacate her or his position prematurely, no replacement shall be appointed but a special election shall be held to elect a new President-elect in the same manner just described.

ARTICLE IV: Executive Committee Meetings

The Executive Committee shall hold a meeting at least once each month and, on other occasions, when called for by the President or by three or more Committee members. The Executive Committee cannot make decisions when a quorum, consisting of no less than two-thirds of its members, is not present at the meeting. Decisions shall require a majority vote of all members in attendance at the meeting.

Members of the Executive Committee shall be expected to attend its meetings regularly. Should a member of the Executive Committee be absent from three consecutive meetings, except with the prior written approval of a majority of the other members of the Committee, that individual’s position shall be declared vacant until the General Assembly, in the manner described in Article IV above, can elect another member of the Association to replace that individual for the remainder of her or his term in office.

In order to reduce the burden of travel to the Executive Committee’s meetings for those members who do not reside in Prishtina, at least every other meeting of the Executive Committee (i.e., 50% or more of its meetings) shall be held, in a rotational manner, in Ferizaj, Gjilan, Gjakova, Mitrovica, Peja, and Prizren.

ARTICLE V: General Assembly

The term General Assembly shall be understood to mean a meeting in which all individual and corporate members of the Association are invited and entitled to participate and vote. Prior to the official approval of this Constitution, all active and retired teachers of English shall be entitled to attend meetings of the General Assembly and to vote on whether to approve this Constitution in its recommended or an amended form and to vote on the selection of the officers of this Association. After the General Assembly meeting in which the Constitution is approved and the officers of this Association are elected, only the members of this Association shall be considered members of the General Assembly and eligible to vote at its meetings.

ARTICLE VI: General Assembly Meetings

General Assembly meetings shall be held at least twice each year, in May and November on specific dates and at locations chosen by the ExecutiveCommittee, by a vote of no less than two-thirds of its members. General Assembly meetings shall be held for the purpose of acting on any proposed amendments to this Constitution, electing or replacing the officers of this Association, or acting on any matters that the Executive Committee believes requires the involvement of all Association members. Proposed amendments to this Constitution must be received in writing by the Association’s Secretary no later than twenty-eight (28) days before a General Assembly meeting and must be conveyed to all members of the Association by email no later than fourteen (14) days before the date of the General Assembly meeting. Approval of a proposed amendment shall require no less than a two-thirds vote of all members attending a meeting at which a quorum is present and shall take effect either immediately after approval or upon such date as decided upon at the time of the vote. No less than 25 members of the Association must be present at the beginning of a General Assembly meeting to constitute a quorum.

ARTICLEVII: Funding

Deposit of funds:

All funds received by the Association shall be deposited as soon as possible in the Association’s bank account. All expenditures of funds must be approved in writing by both the President and the Treasurer of the Association after being first approved at a meeting of the Executive Committee at which a quorum is present.

Disbursement of funds:

The funds of the Association shall be disbursed only in support of the purposes of the Association.

The Executive Committee shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payment and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article I hereof.

No member of the Association shall be entitled to receive funds for his or her services to the Association.

Membership dues:

All teachers of English and students who aspire to become teachers of English shall be entitled to become members of this Association without payment of dues through May 31, 2012. After that date, membership in the Association shall require annual payment of the following dues:

1.Active teachers of English: 12 Euros

2.Retired teachers of English: 6 Euros

3.Students who intend to become English teachers: 6 Euros

4.Corporate members: 50 Euros

Individuals and corporate entities who become members of the Association after June 1 shall be assessed dues according to the following schedule:

Date of Membership / Active teachers dues / Retired teachers and students dues / Corporate dues
June 1–30 / 12 Euros / 6 Euros / 50 Euros
July 1–31 / 11 Euros / 5.50 Euros / 46 Euros
August 1-31 / 10 Euros / 5 Euros / 42 Euros
September 1-30 / 9 Euros / 4.50 Euros / 38 Euros
October 1-31 / 8 Euros / 4 Euros / 34 Euros
November 1-30 / 7 Euros / 3.50 Euros / 30 Euros
December. 1-31 / 6 Euros / 3 Euros / 26 Euros
January 1-31 / 5 Euros / 2.50 Euros / 22 Euros
February 1-28 / 4 Euros / 2 Euros / 18 Euros
March 1-31 / 3 Euros / 1.50 Euros / 14 Euros
April 1-30 / 2 Euros / 1 Euro / 10 Euros
May 1-31 / 1 Euro / .50 Euro / 6 Euros

In addition to the above categories of membership, the Association shall offer to individuals the alternative of a lifetime membership for 120 Euros.

All individuals and corporate entities must pay their dues by depositing the required amount in the Association’s bank account. The membership of any individuals or corporate entities who do not renew their membership by June 30 will lapse on July 1.

ARTICLEVIII: Branches

Those individual and corporate members of this Association who live in a particular Regional Center of Kosova can, at their initiative, create a branch of this Association, in the manner prescribed by this Constitution.

  1. A branch must be governed by a charter whose contents conform to the provisions of this Constitution and to any requirements that the General Assembly or Executive Committee of this Association issues.

2. The geographic boundaries of a branch shall be as specified by the Executive Committee of this Association.

3. Only individuals who are members of this Association can be members of a branch of this Association.

4. Only those members of the Association who reside within the geographic boundaries of a particular region can become members of that branch.

5. No member of the Association can be a member of more than one branch.

6. A branch may elect any officers that it chooses.

7. Following the submission by a branch of its charter to the Executive Committee of this Association and upon the Executive Committee’s approval of that charter, the branch shall be entitled to elect or appoint one of its members to serve on the Executive Committee for a term of one year, which can be renewed.

8. The Executive Committee shall have the power to sever the Association’s relationship with a branch if it determines that the branch is not in compliance with the provisions of this Constitution or is not in compliance with any requirements issued by the General Assembly or Executive Committee.

9. Branchesmay present motionsforconsiderationbytheExecutiveCommittee.

  1. The Association shall not be responsible for the payment of any debts incurred by one of its branches.

ARTICLEIX: Standing Committeesand Ad Hoc Committees

The Executive Committee shall have the power to create Standing Committees and Ad Hoc Committees to assist it to achieve the purposes and objectives of the Association. Standing Committees shall be permanent in duration and shall assist the Association to perform a particular function. They shall continue in existence until the Executive Committee determines that they are no longer necessary. Ad Hoc Committees shall be created, as needed, to perform a specific task and shall cease to exist after the Executive Committee determines that the task has been accomplished.

The Executive Committee shall appoint the Chairperson and members of Standing Committees and Ad Hoc Committees and mayassign to them suchpowers astheExecutive Committee shall decide. The Chairperson and members of Standing Committees and Ad Hoc Committees must be members of the Association. They shall serve such terms as the Executive Committee shall determine. All Standing Committees and Ad Hoc Committees must record the minutes of their meetings and submit them by email in a timely manner to the members of the Executive Committee. Allactions taken byStandingCommittees and Ad Hoc Committeesshall besubject tothe approval of theExecutive Committee.

Allmoniesandotherassetsobtained byanyStanding Committeeor Ad Hoc Committee shallbecometheproperty oftheAssociationandallfunds shallbedeposited as soon as possible inthebankaccount oftheAssociationasspecified in Article VII above.

ARTICLE X: KETA

This Association is established to build on and continue the good work of the Kosovo English Teachers Association (KETA). All members of KETA are encouraged to become members of this Association with the same rights, privileges, and obligations of all other members. Their participation in the establishment of the regional branches of this Association and in the functioning of its Executive Committee and General Assembly is welcome.

ARTICLE XI: Effective date

The provisions of this Constitution shall become effective at the time and on the date of the Constitution’s approval by the Association’s General Assembly.

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